Paper Cranes
by Casteline
Summary: Ten drabbles based on ten songs. Sam/G.


**Challenge**:  
1. Pick a character, pairing, or fandom you like.  
2. Turn your music player on and turn it on random/shuffle.  
3. Write a drabble/ficlet related to each song that plays. You only have the time frame of the song to finish the drabble; you start when the song starts, and stop when it's over. No lingering afterwards!  
4. Do ten of these, then post them.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own. Songs belong to Pauley Perette, Avril Lavigne, Boys Like Girls, Trapt, Paramore, Evanescence, Evans Blue, Nickelback, Switchfoot and Avenged Sevenfold.

None of the stories are directly related, though a lot of them seem to be during or right after the events of Legend.

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1. **Fear** by Stop Making Friends (Pauley Perette)

_**Are you scared to forgive**__**  
**__**Are you afraid to live**__**  
**__**Are you afraid to die**__**  
**__**Do you think you told a lie**_

G isn't afraid of a lot. Over the years, he's see so much crazy shit, that nothing really scares him anymore.

He isn't afraid of being alone. He's been alone his whole life. It's nothing new.

He isn't afraid of death. He's been right on the verge of death too many time to count.

There are so many things he isn't afraid of.

But as he lies on the pavement, on the edge of death once more, he looks into Sam's eyes as he holds him tightly, begging for him not to die, he realizes something.

Maybe he isn't afraid of dying.

But Sam is afraid of losing him.

And maybe that scares him a little bit.

* * *

2. **My Happy Ending** by Avril Lavigne

_**You were everything, everything**__**  
**__**That I wanted**__**  
**__**We were meant to be, supposed to be**__**  
**__**But we lost it**_

When they began, they were perfect.

Maybe not perfect, but pretty damn close. They felt perfect, and that's what mattered.

But nothing lasts forever. It's a horrible cliché and he hates it, but it's true.

Eventually, things change. There's nothing anyone can do about it.

It didn't matter how much he wished they could go back.

It didn't matter that he would give anything to be back at the beginning, when they were perfect.

What mattered is that they were fading apart.

And there was nothing anyone could do about it.

* * *

3. **Two is Better Than One** by Boys Like Girls

_**I remember what you wore on the first day**__**  
**__**You came into my life**__**  
**__**And I thought hey**__**  
**__**You know this could be something**__**  
**__**Cause everything you do**__**  
**__**And words you say**__**  
**__**You know that it all takes my breath away**__**  
**__**And I am left with nothing**_

Sam remembers the day he met G. It was Callen's first day at NCIS and he walked into the office with a cheeky grin and obnoxious attitude.

Sam remembers growling at him, just a little, because something about him just seemed like it deserved a growl.

Growling only seemed to provoke G, probably because he didn't have the common sense and survival instinct not to mess with a former Navy Seal.

And mess with him he did.

He had gone on and on about how Sam was just putting on a brave suit, that underneath was a big, cuddly teddy bear.

Sam snorted at that and started down the hall to meet up with the rest of the team.

Then Callen had said something about how Sam would pretend to hate him, but he'll really grow to love him.

Sam never told him he was right.

* * *

4. **Ready When You Are** by Trapt

_**Calm down, don't take it too far**__**  
**__**I know only time can heal scars**__**  
**__**So I'm ready when you are, when you are**__**  
**__**I'm ready when you are**__**  
**__**Tied down**__**  
**__**Don't want any false starts**__**  
**__**I can do without the time apart**__**  
**__**So I'm ready when you are, when you are**__**  
**__**I'm ready when you are**_

They take it slow in the beginning. Maybe because neither of them is really sure of themselves.

Maybe because neither one is really sure of the other.

They take it slow in the beginning, because neither one is really sure how this is going to work, how it should work.

They take it slow in the beginning because neither one knows how badly the other wants this. And neither one wants to screw it up.

* * *

5. **That's What You Get** by Paramore

_**Why do we like to hurt so much?**__**  
**__**Oh, why do we like to hurt so much?**__**  
**__**That's what you get**__**  
**__**When you let your heart win, whoa**_

He must have been some sort of masochist. Nothing else would explain it.

Nothing else could explain why he kept coming back. Why he kept letting himself get roped back in.

Not that things were particularly bad with G. They just weren't particularly good.

When things were good, they were really good. Really good. Like, couldn't get better than this good.

But when things were bad, they were really bad. The kind of bad that meant G was lying in a hospital bed after being turned into Swiss cheese by crazed gunmen.

G was a trouble magnet. Sam knew this going in. Sam knew it, but still let himself get roped in.

When it was bad, it was bad.

But when it was good, it was so good, it was almost worth the dealing with the bad.

And maybe that's why he keeps letting himself come back.

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6. **Going Under** by Evanescence

_**Now I will tell you what I've done for you**__**  
**__**Fifty thousand tears I've cried**__**  
**__**Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you**__**  
**__**And you still won't hear me,**_

G has no idea. No idea what he's put Sam through.

He has no idea what it did to Sam, holding G in his arms as he bled out onto the pavement.

Sam can't explain what happened.

He can't explain that the second he heard the shots and realized that they were aimed at G, he's pretty sure his heart stopped for a minute, he pretty sure that a little bit of him died when he though G was dead.

* * *

7. **Q (The Best One Of Our Lives)** by Evans Blue

_**A tougher ending**__**  
**__**It sounds so easy**__**  
**__**But every time we were supposed to let go**__**  
**__**We'd make love**_

Letting go should have been easy.

It should have been easy to walk away, pretend that nothing happened.

It should have been easy to go back to best friends. They'd been friends so long, going back shouldn't have been a problem.

And yet, somehow, every time they tried to go back, every time they tried to stop…

They somehow ended up in each other's arms once more.

* * *

8. **If Today Was Your Last Day** by Nickelback

_**If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late**__**  
**__**Could you say goodbye to yesterday?**__**  
**__**Would you live each moment like your last?**__**  
**__**Leave old pictures in the past?**__**  
**__**Donate every dime you had?**_

When he wakes up after getting shot, he decides that some things are going to change.

He almost died.

What if he had died?

What if that had really been his last day on earth?

'It wasn't,' he reminded himself. But still, what if it had been?

He didn't want to be there person who died with regrets.

"Hey Sam," he greets when Sam walks into his room.

"Didn't the docs tell you so stay in bed?"

"Eh," Callen grunted with a shrug.

Sam rolled his eyes and plopped down onto the empty hospital bed.

"So listen," G began, taking a step closer to his friend.

"Yeah?"

"I… When I die… I don't want to have any regrets."

"Well then, don't die," Sam said.

"No one in our line of work can just decide not to die Sam. Everyone dies sooner or later, and, for most of us, it's sooner. And I don't wanna die with regrets."

"What do you regret G? Being a constant pain in my ass? Being a nuisance to everyone you've ever met? Not knowing when to shut your mouth?"

"Nope, none of those," G said with a small smile. He isn't really sure how to explain the answer to Sam's question, so he takes several steps closer and closes the gap between them, pressing his lips, his hands, his body in to Sam.

* * *

9. **On Fire** by Switchfoot

_**And you're on fire when he's near you**__**  
**__**You're on fire when he speaks**__**  
**__**You're on fire burning at these mysteries**_

He's never really felt like this with anyone before. He's never really felt completely free, completely at peace with anyone before. He doesn't have to pretend to be anything he's not.

When they're together, anywhere, in the squad room, on a stakeout in one of their cars, walking down the stairs from one of Eric's briefs, sitting on the couch eating pizza…

When they're together, he feels amazing.

Sometimes he can't help but smile. Not because anything is funny or because it was particularly smile worthy, but just because he's right there next to him.

Something about just knowing that he's there makes him feel like his whole body is on fire, in a completely good way.

And maybe that's worth a smile every now and then.

* * *

10. **Almost Easy** by Avenged Sevenfold 

_**Come back to me it's almost easy**__**  
**__**(Said it all)**__**  
**__**Come back again it's almost easy**__**  
**__**(You'll learn your lesson)**__**  
**__**Come back to me it's almost easy**__**  
**__**(But still you fall)**__**  
**__**Come back again it's almost easy**_

Sam stared down at the bloodied body in his arms.

"Come on G," he whispered, rocking back and forth. "Please G," he begged.

He had known that something was wrong when he dropped Callen off at his apartment. Had known something was off. A split second before the shots went off, he knew what was happening.

If only he had realized sooner. If only he could have stopped it.

"Come on G," he said. "Come back to me. The paramedics are almost here. Don't do this to me. Just come back."

But G couldn't hear him. He was unconscious, and for a moment, Sam was sure he was dead, sure that he was never going to see his beautiful blue eyes again, sure he would never see that smile again.

"Please G."

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Quick thinks to cracked-out for pointing out the whole sadist thing. At first I had no idea what you were talking about, then I realized that I had put sadist, when I was thinking masochist. I must have been really distracted. Thanks :)

Reviews are lovely.


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